Headline

Jury Selection Begins In Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sex Crimes Trial

Published

1 year ago

May 5, 2025

Jury selection begins Monday in New York in the blockbuster federal sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who stands accused of years of harrowing abuse.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty on all counts, insisting that any sex acts were consensual — but prosecutors say for years he coerced victims into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.

At a recent hearing, his attorney Marc Agnifilo offered a preview of his team’s defence by describing the artist’s free-wheeling “swinger” lifestyle.

The prosecution said it had offered Combs a plea deal — the specifics were not disclosed — but that he had rejected it.

Combs faces one charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once primarily used to target the mafia but in recent years has been wielded in cases of sexual abuse, including against the fallen R&B star R. Kelly.

It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes.

If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Over the decades, Combs — who has gone by various stage names including Puff Daddy and P. Diddy — amassed enormous wealth for his work in music but also his ventures in the liquor industry.

He was arrested by federal agents in New York in September 2024 and denied bail multiple times.

Combs is being held at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Centre, a facility plagued by complaints of vermin and decay as well as violence.

High-profile inmates there included Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur convicted of fraud.

Combs has appeared in pre-trial hearings looking remarkably aged, his once jet-black, styled coif now overgrown and grey.

The jury selection start date is notably the first Monday in May — which annually marks New York’s Met Gala, a glittering celebrity charity bash where Combs was once a red carpet mainstay.

Just two years ago, he posed for the cameras at that event uptown — but on Monday, he will be downtown in federal court, as the panel of citizens tasked with determining his fate face a barrage of questions from lawyers on both sides.

Jury selection is expected to wrap up in about a week, with opening statements tentatively scheduled for May 12.

The proceedings are estimated to last eight to 10 weeks.

– ‘Freak-offs’ –

Core to the case is Combs’s relationship with his former girlfriend, the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who is expected to be a key trial witness.

A disturbing surveillance video from 2016, which was aired by CNN last year, shows Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel.

Prosecutors say the encounter occurred following one of the “freak-offs” they argue were a feature of his pattern of abuse.

The so-called “freak-offs” were coercive, drug-fueled sexual marathons including sex workers that were sometimes filmed, according to the indictment.

It is unclear how much of the CNN video will be shown to jurors as evidence in court — the footage’s quality has been a sticking point between the opposing legal teams — but Judge Arun Subramanian has ruled that at least some of it will be admissible.

The floodgates opened after Ventura filed a civil suit alleging Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape.

That 2023 suit was quickly settled out of court, but a string of similarly lurid sexual assault claims against the Grammy winner from both women and men followed.

– ‘Perfect storm’ –

Industry watchers are monitoring Combs’s case as a potential inflexion point in the music world which, beyond the case of Kelly, has largely evaded the #MeToo reckoning that has rocked Hollywood.

Caroline Heldman — co-founder of the Sound Off Coalition, which is focused on sexual violence in music — said Combs’s case is a flashpoint of a broader pattern of industry tolerance and cover-up of abuse.

“In the music industry, I think it’s the perfect storm of what celebrity does to people and what power does to people. It gives them an empathy deficit where the rules don’t apply to them,” she said.

When it comes to Combs’s case, she told AFP she’s “optimistic that justice will be served.”

“I hope that this inspires other survivors to come forward.”

AFP

Headline

‘Pioneer Of Cable TV News’: Key Facts About CNN Founder, Ted Turner

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2026

Editor

Ted Turner, the media businessman who founded CNN died at the age of 87. He died peacefully on Wednesday, surrounded by family, according to Turner Enterprises.

Contents

Launched 24-hour news television

Built a media network

Expanded through sports

Recognition and influence

Philanthropy and global causes

Environmental efforts

Health and later years

Early career path

Leadership and legacy

Personal life

Exit from business

Family

Below are key facts about his life and impact:

Launched 24-hour news television

Turner founded CNN on June 1, 1980, introducing the first 24-hour news channel and changing how audiences follow global events.

Built a media network

He moved from billboards into broadcasting, turning an Atlanta TV station into a national superstation in 1976. His business later grew to include CNN International, TNT, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network.

Expanded through sports

Turner invested in sports broadcasting and owned teams including the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks, using television to reach wider audiences.

Recognition and influence

In 1991, he was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year for his role in shaping modern news coverage.

Philanthropy and global causes

He founded the United Nations Foundation and supported campaigns against nuclear weapons. In 1997, he pledged $1 billion to the United Nations.

Turner supported conservation work, including reintroducing bison in the United States, and backed environmental education through the “Captain Planet” cartoon.

Health and later years

In 2018, Turner revealed he had Lewy body dementia. He also recovered from a mild case of pneumonia in early 2025.

Early career path

He took over his father’s billboard company at 24 after his father’s death and later expanded into radio and television, despite limited experience in journalism.

“I worked until 7 o’clock, and when I got home the news was over,” he once said. “So I missed television news completely. And I figured there were lots of people like me.”

Leadership and legacy

“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” Mark Thompson, Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”

Personal life

Turner married actress Jane Fonda in 1991, and they later divorced after 10 years, though they remained close.

“I would never love anyone like I love him,” she said. “But I just couldn’t keep moving in his world, along the surface for the rest of my life. I knew that I would get to the end of my life and regret not doing the things that I also needed to do for me.”

Exit from business

He sold his company to Time Warner in 1996 and later stepped away following its merger with AOL.

Reflecting on his life, Turner once said: “I lost Jane. I lost my job here. I lost my fortune, most of it. Got a billion or two left. You can get by on that if you economize.”

Family

He is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Headline

Iran’s Nationwide Internet Shutdown Hits 70 Days

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2026

Editor

NetBlocks, a monitoring group, has disclosed that an internet shutdown enforced by the Iranian regime has entered its 70th day, severing key access from swathes of the population under the shadow of war.

NetBlocks reported on Friday that the blackout has now surpassed 1,656 hours, marking more than two months since US-Israeli strikes pounded Tehran and escalated across the Middle East.

“Digital connectivity is vital in times of crisis,” NetBlocks said in a post on X. “Limiting service harms those most in need – people with disabilities, students, small businesses and the general public.”

According to CNN, Iran imposed a separate internet shutdown on the country’s 92 million people earlier this year, when it launched the most lethal crackdown on anti-government protesters since the Islamic Republic’s founding 47 years ago.

CNN further reports that the latest blackout has cut off another potential lifeline for Iranian residents faced with high unemployment and economic pressure exacerbated by the US-Israeli campaign.

(CNN)

Headline

Gas Prices In US Edge Down After Two Weeks Of Increases

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2026

Editor

The cost of a gallon of regular gas in the United States (US) has edged down a little more than a penny to $4.55.

According to AAA’s readings, this marks the first decline in the average gas price after 15 straight days of increases.

The decline is minuscule compared to the large increases in gas prices over the last two weeks.

According to CNN, gasoline costs rose an average of nearly 4 cents a day during that period and had several daily increases of between 7 and 9 cents.

Also Read: Trump insists US-Iran ceasefire intact despite recent exchange of fire

CNN also reports that based on past gas spikes, it will likely take weeks for gas prices to get down below $4 a gallon.

The report, however, states that a previous two-week stretch of gas price declines only shaved 14 cents off the average price, taking the average price to $4.02, before the recent 15-day run of increases.

According to CNN, it could take months for the average price to fall below $3 per gallon, as it did before the war in Iran.

CNN further reports that only one state – Oklahoma – now has an average price of less than $4 a gallon, and its average stands at $3.98. California has the highest average price at $6.16.

(CNN)